A Peruvian artifact estimated to be more than a thousand years old, well-wrapped in white tissue paper and stuck into a borrowed school duffel bag, marks the first success of a rural town’s plans to repatriate its art collection. The museum in Paola began its ongoing efforts of trying to return objects from a 38-piece collection of pre-Columbian artifacts a year ago, after first receiving the artifacts from a Kansas City couple’s trust five years ago. Pre-Columbian is a term used to describe an era of thriving indigenous art in the Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. “Although this is a wonderful collection, it really doesn’t have anything to do with Miami county,” said Miami County Historical Society and Museum executive board member Gordan Geldhof. “Really, the right thing to do was to repatriate them.” The collection was authenticated in 1991, when it was determined the countries of origin were Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru. After making little initial headway on the repatriation process, museum officials reached out to U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids’ office, which helped them get into contact with the four embassies in Washington, D.C.
Source: Kansas Reflector
